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MAJOR RETAILER ADAMMALE DROPS BAREBACK INVENTORY
By: Keith Witchka, Staff Writer -02-16-09 - 12:00 a.m. PDT
Bareback content has had a rocky 3 months in retail.We first noticed the dip in sales and rentals back before Thanksgiving 2008. January 2009 didn't produce any improvement in the bareback genre arena.
Everyone is speculating as to why this is happening. Is it the models?, storylines?, sex choregraphy or is it the lame cumshots?
Retailers have been complainnig about this problem for over a year now and it looks like it's starting to take it's toll. While you do have studios who have hit bareback movies, the vast majority are bringing the genre down in retail revenue.
I was fortunate enough to chat with the Marketing Director of PHE, Inc's subsidiary AdamMale Molly Fisher. Last week, AdamMale announced that they were dropping all Bareback Content from their shelves and inventory.
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Keith: With over 10 Million customers served, AdamMale.com is taking a huge step in the Safe-Sex initiative by discontinuing their bareback content form their web sites. Molly Tell me, how did you come to this decision?
Molly: This new year has been a time of reflection for our brand. AdamMale’s employees are a passionate (and opinionated!) group. This was not an easy decision for our company. After many heated debates internally surrounding the issue we eventually came to the decision as a team that selling bareback videos doesn’t fit with the kind of member of the gay community we work so hard to be. We want customers to know that when they shop AdamMale.com that they can safely explore their sexuality – we have some of the strictest standards in the business both for videos and sex toys for that reason.
Keith: Over the past several months, retail has seen a down turn in not only sales but in bareback rentals and sales as well. Do attribute this to low production quality or lack of marketing?
Molly: It’s hard to say for all retail sex video or VOD companies…but for AdamMale, “bareback” has followed the sales pattern of a new product line not a long term niche. I see it more as a trend that got a lot of attention. I am excited to see what the new hot trend in gay sex videos will be.
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Keith: PHE Inc., the parent company of AdamMale, has been a leader in the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS prevention. Do you see more retail outlets as well as online and mail order outlets, following suit?
Molly: It is up to every company to decide what their brand stands for. We don’t care to try to dictate what other companies should or shouldn’t do. We as a company care about being good citizens of both the gay community of the gay sex industry – For us this has translated into long term industry partnerships and stable sales in a time when less responsible companies are going under.
Keith: Currently JRL fans and the millions of consumers who visit AdamMale daily, see everything from cockrings, to condoms, clothing, Gay XXX DVDs, and more. How have you been able to dominate in the industry so well while 60% of the marketplace has been suffering?
Molly: Of course, our reputation has helped - we have a very loyal customer base who buys from us because they know they won’t find better service or selection of high quality products elsewhere. They know a helpful, knowledgeable customer service person is always just a call away and they can return anything risk-free. They know we do everything we can to protect their privacy and invest greatly in making their information secure. I think too many sex retail stores have cut corners with these types of things in the past and made people wary of doing business with unknown brands online.
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Keith: Thank's again Molly for taking a moment to chat with me here on JRL on this explosive issue.
JRL Fans, check out www.AdamMale.com to everything from Gay XXX DVD's to Love toys, novelties and more.
Make sure to keep us locked in for more direct info from retailers nationwide on how the Adult Marketplace is handling this massive recession.
Next week, JRL Senior Staff Writer will be talking with Joshua of Mega Eastcoast retailer Deluxe Books in New York.
Stay tuned to JRL for the latast Info and Entertainment on the Gay Adult Film Industry, JRL.
